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We had a quick break from the awesome line-up at Pyramid Rock Festival, to catch up with Josh Moriarty (previously of Miami Horror fame) to talk about his latest project All The Colours.

Start off by talking about how All The Colours started as a band. How did you meet and join together?

So Jono the drummer and Joe the bass player, we’ve been friends for about 20 years so we played in bands when we were younger and then we went off in different directions and I started playing dance music, I play in Miami Horror as well, so I’ve been doing that for a while. Then I had a bit of downtime from that and I wanted to start this band for so long, years and years, and finally now is the opportunity, the moment, to do that. It just needed to happen, I played rock then started playing dance music and now it’s nice to go back into something else. I’ve done my time with dance beats for a while so it’s time for a change. But this isn’t a side project; it’s very much a big thing like Miami Horror.

Is there a genre you prefer to work with?

No, I like them both, they’re both very valid art forms, you know. Everything’s evolved, like if you had jazz, and then rock, then that turned into dance and now things are changing again but they’re all just as valid as each other.

Explain a bit about your self-described ‘progressive vintage pop.’

Yeah that’s what it is, progressive vintage is the phrase we like to dandy about with because you know, taking old and making it new is the idea of the whole thing. We like to present ourselves well, we just want to entertain and try and get people to dance. We’re serious but not too serious, that’s the approach.

How did you get into that genre of music?

That’s an interesting question, we first started jamming together early last year, the band’s only really been going since the start of this year, but we had our first sort of muck around rehearsals last year, it started off way more heavy like Mars Volta or Queens of the Stone Age or Zeppelin and then the more we rehearsed the more we realised we didn’t want to be like a ‘90s rock band, we wanted to make music that our mum could like and I think that we’re starting to achieve that. If you put on an album and everyone can enjoy it, a classic like Sinatra or The Doors or Hendrix, you know those classic sounding albums that are not too offensive but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have passion or energy to it, but just not offensive which is the word we’re trying to avoid.

Do you write your own material?

Yeah, I write all the songs that I sing and then the other guy who plays guitar writes his songs as well so it’s mainly just the two of us. We’re like Lennon and McCartney but not as good.

Explain the meaning/way the band name All The Colours came about.

I guess it was a name we’d had for years just hanging around and if we ever started a band we wanted to call it that. It’s just the idea that it doesn’t really limit you to anything, I think it was a name that you could use that can go in any direction with our music and wouldn’t hold us back. If we’re called Goat Killer or something like that, you’d get a bit of an idea of what the band would be like.

Talk a bit about your journey as musicians, and how you began to really make it in the industry and how you’ve made it here today.

Just doing it since forever, I started playing guitar when I was 14, I’m 29 now so however long that is, 15, 16 years, or something, of playing guitar and just never put it down basically. Lots of bands I played in, dance bands, rock bands, jazz bands, funk bands everything which I guess all led me to this moment right now where I am alive, living here.

Who’s your biggest music inspiration?

Probably Prince I reckon would be my favourite musician. He sort of does everything, he’s covered it all, he’s never restricted himself in any way he’s played every style, he’s still going and I love how creative he is. He’s got the funk. He’s the best, I reckon even more so than Michael Jackson. It’s a ridiculous call, probably doesn’t even need to be made but in a fight I’d take Prince.

What’s been, in your opinion, your best performance so far?

I would say the Ladyhawke shows, that was really fun and that was the first proper national tour that we’d done so it was really good to get a handle on what it is we can do and those shows were probably the best things so far for exposure. But there’s plenty more to come, this is just the beginning.

Does it ever get difficult being in a band? Ever at each other’s throats or do you all get along well?

This is far too early in the piece to be at each other’s throats but Miami Horror got pretty tense, near the end of the album cycle that we did, we toured until the end of last year and it just got crazy. By the end we were all at each other’s throats so it’s been really nice for us all to have a break, but it’s all cool again we’re writing a new album at the moment so it always works out, you’ve got to throw a few punches, then put a band aid on it. It’s out of passion for what you believe with your art and your music, you clash because you think this is the right way to go about it and they think the other way, so it’s good if you’re that passionate that you want to fight people over it. It’s a good thing.

What do you think is the difference between playing at festivals such as Pyramid compared to a smaller crowd?

They’re both fun, I love all those things, the difference is at a club show you’ve got way more time to get your sound right, you can connect more intimately with people but at these sorts of things it’s hit the ground running and see what you can muster and because it’s not your crowd at a festival there’s a way to approach it, we go for the just be nice approach and we try to never swear, it’s not the image we’re going for.

What are the plans for 2013? Debut album?

So the album’s got two more days of mixing and it’ll be completely finished so, give it a month and it’ll be all done. The first single’s already out the second single comes out in a few weeks time, follow the album up pretty soon after that I imagine and then keep making music and playing and videos and touring and all that stuff is the plan. Yeah, just keep doing it, this is just the beginning.